January 23, 2014
NEW THIS WEEK
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Have You Registered for the Home Base Symposium?
Districts Provide Feedback on Standards-Based Report Card Requirements
New on the Web: Roles for Instructional Coaches Using Schoolnet
Teachers and Curriculum Staff: Please Complete Our Schoolnet Survey
Webinar on Tap for Resource Consortium
New on the Web: Recent Webinars Posted
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Exploring the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning on the Web
• Next Maintenance Weekend is Feb. 7-10
Have You Registered for the Home Base Symposium?
C’mon, we know you wanna, so take a minute now and register for the Home Base
Symposium Feb. 17-19 at Greensboro’s Sheraton Four Seasons, Koury Convention Center.
Friday, Jan. 31, is the deadline for capitalizing on the great registration fee of $115. Any
registration fees postmarked after this date are subject to the late registration fee of
$250.
Remember, registrations are not complete until payment and a copy of the completed
registration form are received at the NCDPI. Payment and forms should be mailed to: NC
Department of Public Instruction, Cash Collections, 6336 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC
27699-6336. Checks should be payable to NCDPI Cash Collections.
Here are those registration and hotel reservation links:
REGISTRATION INFO: Online registration is available at
http://www.nc-sis.org/symposium14.html. When completing registrations, please ensure
your email address is correct. Certificates of Attendance will be sent to the email addresses
entered on the registration form. Find more details on the conference here:
http://www.nc-sis.org/documents/symp_2014/Home_Base_Symposium_Letter_2014.pdf.
ROOM RESERVATIONS: Here’s the Sheraton Four Seasons Hotel reservation form:
http://www.nc-sis.org/documents/symp_2014/Home_Base_Hotel_2014.doc. Please
complete the form and mail or fax it to the hotel address/phone number listed on the
form. Do NOT submit the hotel reservation form to NCDPI. Please remember to state that
you are with the Home Base Symposium when making reservations.
MORE INFO: For symposium questions, contact Terra Dominguez at
Terra.Dominguez@dpi.nc.gov. For registration or payment questions, contact Yolanda
Wilson at Yolanda.Wilson@dpi.nc.gov.
Districts Provide Feedback on Standards-Based Report Card Requirements
We understand that districts are eager to have a Standard-Based Report Card template
available from the state but prior to releasing a template, it is important to ensure that
districts provide feedback and input on its development.
On Jan. 17, NCDPI staff met with district representatives from Asheboro City, Franklin
County, Hoke County, Rutherford County and Transylvania County schools to discuss their
current standard-based report card practices and gather input on the requirements for the
customized template that Pearson is developing for statewide use.
The final requirements for the Standards-Based Report Card will be submitted to Pearson
Jan. 24. Once the requirements are reviewed, Pearson will provide a timeline for
completion. The committee of district representatives will continue to be involved in the
process by reviewing and providing feedback on the template when it is created.
At the Home Base Symposium in Greensboro Feb. 17-19, you’ll want to attend the
Standard-Based Report Card Lab if you’d like a hands-on opportunity to interact with the NC
standards spreadsheet, how it will load into a PowerTeacher Gradebook and populate a
standards-based report card. The sample report card that will be used is modeled after the
one that Hoke County developed through ReportWorks and has been implementing since
Fall 2013. Franklin County staff also will provide information on why they use a
standards-based report card and their role in helping develop a statewide template.
New on the Web: Roles for Instructional Coaches Using Schoolnet
If your school has Instructional Coaches, or those in similar positions, who need access to
aggregate data and lesson plans in Schoolnet, you will need to add specific roles to their
account. A new document provides steps and guidance for giving school-level staff access
to aggregate data and access to the teacher lesson planner.
To help you, a new document, “More on Roles and Permissions – Access for School
Instructional Coaches,” has been added to the Home Base website at:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase/getting-ready/implementation/category?categ
ory=User%20Roles%20and%20Access. There you’ll also find general information about
roles and permissions, as well as documents outlining how to set up a teacher with access
to build benchmark assessments and to share assessments.
MORE INFO: For questions, please contact the Home Base Support Center at
homebase.incidents@its.nc.gov.
Teachers and Curriculum Staff: Please Complete Our Schoolnet Survey
Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback via a new survey to gauge teachers'
knowledge and use of the instructional materials and classroom assessments in the Home
Base Instructional Improvement System, Schoolnet.
Throughout the state, Schoolnet use presently ranges from “not at all” to “daily.” Whether
you have used the materials or not, the information you provide will help us communicate
with other teachers and staffers about the system, and will provide some baseline data.
The survey should take only five to 15 minutes to complete depending on your use of
Schoolnet. We appreciate your taking the time to respond. All responses are confidential.
Access the survey now through Feb. 7 at https://survey.sedl.org/efm/wsb.dll/s/1g187.
Webinar on Tap for Resource Consortium
The monthly Resource Consortium webinar is Tuesday, Jan. 28, 3:30-4:30 p.m., to review
some external instructional resources to determine if they will be included in Home Base.
Here’s the registration link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/863112568.
New on the Web: Recent Webinars Posted
• Teachers: Check out our Jan. 9 webinar, “Home Base IIS Webinar for Teachers - Building
Instructional Materials,” now posted online at https://vimeo.com/83854412.
Presented by Mary Russell, professional development lead for Region 3, along with Ashley
Secor and Dan Urbanski of the NCDPI Learning Systems Division, this one-hour Schoolnet
webinar demonstrates how teachers can:
- Search for or create instructional materials in Schoolnet,
- Create lessons plans, and
- Schedule materials, lesson plans and other instructional units to the Lesson Planner in
Schoolnet.
This webinar also describes the review/vetting process teachers can follow to share
resources with other teachers in their school and district.
• Teachers and administrators might benefit from the Jan. 15 webinar, “Home Base IIS Introduction to OpenClass,” now available online at https://vimeo.com/84278294.
Urbanski of the NCDPI's Learning Systems Division introduces the OpenClass Learning
Management System (LMS) component of Home Base. OpenClass is an online
collaborative tool used by teachers and students in the classroom.
Attendees learned how OpenClass can be used to:
- Present course content,
- Explore subjects using social learning,
- Collaborate on projects, and
- Participate in active discussions.
• Lastly, “Home Base IIS - Instructional Material Review Process for School
Administrators,” which aired Jan. 16, can be accessed at https://vimeo.com/84345594.
Presented by Secor and Urbanski, it covers:
- The steps teachers follow to search for existing instructional resources and lesson
plans, plus creating new materials and scheduling to the Lesson Planner in Schoolnet,
- Administrators’ review of teacher lesson plans using the Schoolnet Lesson Planner, and
- The review/vetting process teachers and school administrators follow to share
instructional resources with other educators in their school and district.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Exploring the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning on the Web
Exploring the 4 Cs of Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity on the
web will provide educators with the opportunity to maximize the interactivity of the
internet to enhance teaching and learning. The next 4 Cs webinar will be held on Friday, Jan.
24, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm.
The webinar, targeted to classroom teachers K-12, examines a variety of resources with
potential for fostering relevant learning skills in students by focusing on a specific category.
Participants will collaboratively explore resources and be given the opportunity to share
experiences and additional activities related to the 4 Cs.
Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/692544889.
MORE INFO: Donna Albaugh, professional development consultant,
donna.albaugh@dpi.nc.gov.
Next Maintenance Weekend is Feb. 7-10
The next scheduled maintenance weekend is Feb. 7-10. View the list of all scheduled
maintenance weekends here:
http://www.nc-sis.org/Documents/maintenance/Home_Base_Maintenance_Sched.pdf
HOME BASE WEEKLY UPDATE INFO
We encourage you to share this Update, and for past issues of Home Base Weekly and Biweekly Updates,
please visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase/updates/biweekly/?year=2014
***LINKS: PC users might need to press the CTRL button when clicking on a hyperlink in this document.